1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for searching information desired by a user from a database, and performing editing and display as needed, and to a recording medium on which an information search processing program is recorded.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, when searching any type of information from a database in which a tremendous amount of information is saved, it is common to perform processing, wherein a user inputs a keyword, and information which includes the keyword is extracted.
In this type of searching method, the user thinks about the keyword with respect to the information which is going to be searched, and extracts and outputs the information which includes the keyword with a search engine by inputting the keyword.
However, the above-described conventional information searching method only searches by the keyword that is input, regardless of the size of the database being searched or the type of saved information. Therefore, depending on the condition, the amount of information searched may be tremendously large, or alternatively, there may be no information searched.
These conditions can be changed by the keyword setting. Therefore, it is necessary to choose the input keyword(s) appropriately.
In general, it is necessary for the user to consider what type of keyword should be input. For example, if the user cannot obtain the desired information by inputting a certain keyword, it is necessary to perform trial-and-error type searching, such as by inputting a different keyword and re-searching.
Moreover, in order to narrow down the information searched by a certain degree, a plurality of keywords can be input. However, if the user does not know which word to use for certain, it is difficult to set a plurality of keywords. Moreover, often times the context of the information which is extracted by a plurality of keywords is too narrow d-down, which makes obtaining the desired information difficult.
Accordingly, the conventional information searching method cannot easily extract information which the user desires. In particular, a user who is not accustomed with this type of operation cannot perform it smoothly, since the user is not familiar with the operation of extracting desired information by entering only a keyword.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to dramatically decrease the burden of the searching operation which is performed by the user, make information searching possible by a searching method which the user desires, and make it possible to output a search result by categorizing and coordinating into a format the user desires.
In order to achieve these objects, an information search processing method comprises the steps of presetting multiple types of searching strategies which show ways of information searching, displaying the multiple types of searching strategies on a display means in order to allow a user to select an arbitrary searching strategy among the multiple types of searching strategies, and searching information in response to a searching request that is input by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the method, multiple personified processing managers are prepared to enable the user to select an arbitrary searching strategy among the multiple types of searching strategies, the processing managers being displayed by multiple icons, respectively, each of the multiple types of searching strategies being set corresponding to an individual icon of the multiple icons, and the corresponding searching strategy being selected by selecting one of the multiple icons.
In accordance with another aspect of the method, at least one processing manager of the multiple personified processing managers is a personified processing manager that learns an individual user""s taste in information processing based on the user""s past operating conditions, and performs searching based on the learned result when the at least one processing manager is selected by a user.
Another aspect of the method includes presetting multiple types of editing strategies that show ways of editing searched information, displaying the multiple types of editing strategies on a display means so that a user can select an arbitrary editing strategy among the multiple types of editing strategies, and performing editing of said searched information with respect to a search result of a search request which is input by the user, in accordance with an editing strategy which is selected by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the method, multiple personified processing managers are prepared to enable the user to select an arbitrary editing strategy of the multiple types of editing strategies, the processing managers being displayed by icons, respectively, each of the multiple types of editing strategies being set corresponding to an individual icon of the multiple icons, and a corresponding editing strategy being selected by selecting one of the multiple icons.
In accordance with another aspect of the method, at least one processing manager of the multiple personified processing managers is a personified processing manager that learns an individual user""s taste in information processing based on the user""s past operating conditions, and performs editing processing based on the learned result when the at least one processing manager is selected by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the method, in addition to said editing strategy, information is also preset for every icon indicating the type of layout the display is to be performed. in when performing the display of the editing result which is edited in accordance with the editing strategy.
Another aspect of the method includes presetting multiple types of searching strategies that show ways of searching, and multiple types of editing strategies that show ways of editing searched information, displaying the multiple types of searching strategies and editing strategies on display means so that a user can select an arbitrary searching strategy and editing strategy among the multiple types of searching strategies and editing strategies, and searching information and editing the searched information in accordance with the searching strategy and editing strategy which were selected by the user in response to the searching request input by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the method, to enable the user to select an arbitrary searching strategy and editing strategy among the multiple types of searching strategies and the multiple types of editing strategies that show ways of editing searched information, a plurality of personified processing managers are prepared, the processing managers being displayed as multiple icons, the multiple types of searching strategies and the multiple types of editing strategies being set corresponding to respective individual icons of the multiple icons, and a corresponding searching strategy and editing strategy being selected by selecting one of the icons.
In accordance with another aspect of the method, at least one processing manager of the multiple personified processing managers is a personified processing manager that learns an individual user""s taste in information processing based on the past operating conditions of the user, and searching and editing processing are performed based on the learned result when the at least one processing manager is selected by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the method, in addition to said searching strategy and said editing strategy, information is preset for each icon indicating what kind of layout the display is to be performed in when performing a display of the editing result which is edited in accordance with the editing strategy.
An information search processing device in accordance with the invention comprises memory means that stores multiple types of searching strategies that show ways of information searching, user input controlling means that accepts a searching request of a user, reads out the multiple types of searching strategies from said memory means, and displays them on a display means to enable the user to select an arbitrary searching strategy among the multiple types of searching strategies, and searching means that performs information searching with respect to the searching request which was input by the user in accordance with the searching strategy which is selected by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the device, multiple personified processing managers are prepared to enable the user to select an arbitrary searching strategy among the multiple types of searching strategies, the processing managers being displayed by multiple icons, respectively, each of the multiple types of searching strategies being set corresponding to an individual icon of the multiple icons, and the corresponding searching strategy being selected by selecting one of the icons.
In accordance with another aspect of the device, at least one processing manager of the multiple personified processing managers is a personified processing manager that learns an individual user""s taste in information processing based on the user""s past operating conditions, and performs editing processing based on the learned result when the at least one processing manager is selected by the user.
Another aspect of the device comprises memory means that stores multiple editing strategies that show ways of editing with respect to searched information, user input controlling means that accepts a searching request of a user, reads out the multiple types of editing strategies that are stored in said memory means, and displays them on a display means so that the user can select an arbitrary editing strategy among the multiple types of editing strategies, and editing strategies that perform editing of searched information in accordance with the editing strategy which is selected by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the device, a plurality of personified processing managers are prepared to enable the user to select an arbitrary editing strategy among the multiple types of editing strategies, the processing managers being displayed by icons, respectively, each of the multiple types of editing strategies being set corresponding to an individual icon of the multiple icons, and a corresponding editing strategy being selected by selecting one of the icons.
In accordance with another aspect of the device, at least one processing manager among the multiple personified processing managers is a personified processing manager that learns an individual user""s taste in information processing based on the user""s past operating conditions relating to searching, and performs editing processing based on the learned result when the at least one processing manager is selected by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the device, in addition to said editing strategy, information is also preset for every icon indicating what kind of layout the display is to be performed in when performing the display of the editing result which is edited in accordance with the editing strategy.
Another aspect of the device comprises memory means that stores multiple types of searching strategies that show ways of searching, and multiple types of editing strategies that show ways of editing searched information, user input controlling means that accepts a searching request of a user, reads out the multiple types of searching strategies and editing strategies that are stored in said memory means, and displays them on a display means so that the user can select an arbitrary searching strategy and editing strategy among the multiple types of searching strategies and editing strategies, searching means that searches information with respect to the searching request of the user in accordance with the searching strategy and editing strategy that are selected by the user, and editing strategies that perform editing with respect to the result that is searched by the searching means, in accordance with the searching strategy and the editing strategy that are selected by said user.
In accordance with another aspect of the device, to enable the user to select an arbitrary searching and editing strategy among the multiple types of searching strategies and the multiple types of editing strategies, multiple personified processing managers are prepared, the processing managers being displayed as icons, respectively, the multiple types of searching strategies and editing strategies being set corresponding to individual icons of the multiple icons and a corresponding searching strategy and editing strategy being selected by selecting one of the icons.
In accordance with another aspect of the device, at least one processing manager among the multiple personified processing managers is a personified processing manager that learns an individual user""s taste in information processing based on the past operating conditions of the user, and searching and editing processing are performed based on the learned result when the at least one processing manager is selected by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the device, in addition to said searching strategy and said editing strategy, information is preset for each icon indicating what kind of layout the display is to be performed in when performing a display of the editing result which is edited in accordance with the editing strategy.
The invention also includes a recording medium on which is recorded an information search processing program, the processing program comprising the steps of storing multiple types of searching strategies that show ways of searching in a memory means, displaying the multiple types of searching strategies on a display means so that a user can select an arbitrary searching strategy among the multiple types of searching strategies that are stored in said memory means, and searching information with respect to the searching request of the user in accordance with the searching strategy that is selected by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the recording medium, multiple personified processing managers are prepared to enable the user to select an arbitrary searching strategy among the multiple types of searching strategies, the processing managers being displayed by icons, respectively, each of the multiple types of searching strategies being set corresponding to an individual icon of the multiple icons, and the corresponding searching strategy being selected by selecting one of the icons.
In accordance with another aspect of the recording medium, at least one processing manager among the multiple personified processing managers is a personified processing manager that learns an individual user""s taste in information processing based on the user""s past operating conditions, and performs searching based on the learned result when the at least one processing manager is selected by a user.
The invention also includes a recording medium on which is recorded an information search processing program, the processing program comprising the steps storing multiple types of editing strategies that show ways of editing searched information in a memory means, displaying the multiple types of editing strategies on a display means to enable a user to select an arbitrary editing strategy among the multiple types of editing strategies that are stored in said memory means, and editing the searched information in accordance with the editing strategy which is selected by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the recording medium, multiple personified processing managers are prepared to enable the user to select an arbitrary editing strategy among the multiple types of editing strategies, the processing managers being displayed by icons, respectively, each of the multiple types of editing strategies being set corresponding to an individual icon of the multiple icons, and a corresponding editing strategy being selected by selecting one of the icons.
In accordance with another aspect of the recording medium, at least one processing manager among the multiple processing managers is a personified processing manager that learns an individual user""s taste in information processing based on the user""s past operating conditions, and performs editing processing based on the learned result when the at least one processing manager is selected by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the recording medium, in addition to said editing strategies, information is also preset for every icon indicating what kind of layout the display is to be performed in when performing the display of the editing result which is edited in accordance with the editing strategy.
The invention also includes a recording medium on which is recorded an information search processing program, the processing program comprising the steps of storing multiple types of search strategies that show ways of searching and multiple types of editing strategies that show ways of editing searched information in a memory means, displaying the multiple types of searching strategies and editing strategies on a display means to enable the user to select an arbitrary searching strategy and editing strategy among said multiple types of searching strategies and editing strategies that are stored in said memory means, searching information with respect to the search request of the user in accordance with the searching strategy and editing strategy that are selected by the user, and editing the searched information in accordance with the searching strategy and editing strategy that are selected by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the recording medium, to enable the user to select an arbitrary searching strategy and editing strategy among the multiple types of searching strategies and editing strategies, multiple personified processing managers are prepared, the processing managers being displayed as icons, the multiple types of searching strategies and the multiple types of editing strategies being set corresponding to respective individual icons of the multiple icons, and a corresponding searching strategy and editing strategy being selected by selecting one of these icons.
In accordance with another aspect of the recording medium, at least one processing manager among the multiple personified processing managers is a personified processing manager that learns an individual user""s taste in information processing based on the past operating conditions of the user, and searching and editing processing are performed based on the learned result when the at least one processing manager is selected by the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the recording medium, in addition to said searching strategy and said editing strategy, information is preset for each icon indicating what kind of layout the display is to be performed in when performing a display of the editing result which is edited in accordance with the editing strategy.
Accordingly, the invention performs information searching with respect to a searching request which is input by the user, in accordance with the searching strategy selected by the user by selecting one searching strategy among several types of searching strategies that are displayed on a display screen. Therefore, the information searching which the user desires is performed by merely selecting the searching strategy from on the screen. Because of this, the burden necessary for the searching operation of the user can be dramatically decreased.
Then, the result which is searched by the searching strategy which the user has thus selected is edited according to the user""s own system, and it is possible to display the edited result on a display screen after arranging it in a specified layout. Further, it is possible to use this method in other systems by storing it on a recording medium such as a CD ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory).
Moreover, since icons that show multiple personified processing managers are prepared, the multiple types of searching strategies can be correlated to respective icons, and by selecting one of these icons, the corresponding searching strategy can be selected. Therefore, when the user selects one of the multiple searching strategies, the user only needs to select one of the icons which shows the personified processing managers, and thus the user can perform the operation while feeling familiar to the operation, even in an information searching operation to which the user is not accustomed.
Moreover, at least one processing manager among the multiple personified processing managers is a processing manager that learns the user""s taste in information processing based on the past operating conditions of the user. Therefore, after sufficient learning has occurred, information searching of the user""s favorite searching strategy can be performed by just selecting the processing manager. Because of this, the information searching can be easier.
Moreover, the invention performs editing (for example, choosing and discarding information and categorizing the information) of the searched result in accordance with the editing strategy selected by the user by selecting one of editing strategies among multiple types of editing strategies that are displayed on the display screen. Therefore, when editing searched information, the user only needs to select what kind of editing strategy is to be performed from the screen, and editing is performed according to the editing strategy.
Because of this, even when a large amount of information is searched by a keyword input, the editing processing of discarding, selecting and categorizing, can be automatically performed merely by the operation of choosing from the screen, and the burden of the user for editing processing can be largely decreased. Moreover, this can be adapted to any system which uses a searching means.
Moreover, since icons are prepared which show a plurality of personified processing managers, the multiple types of editing strategies correspond to respective icons, and the corresponding editing strategy can be selected by selecting one of these icons. Therefore, when the user selects one of the multiple editing strategies, the editing processing which the user desires can be performed by merely performing the operation of selecting an icon which shows a personified processing manager.
Moreover, among the multiple personified processing managers, at least one processing manager learns the operation tendency of the aforementioned user based on the past operating conditions of the user, and understands the taste of each user. Therefore, after sufficient learning has occurred, the editing of the information by the editing strategy which the user prefers can be performed by merely selecting the processing manager.
Moreover, what kind of layout the edited result will be displayed in is correlated to each processing manager. Therefore, the setting of the layout which the user likes becomes possible by merely selecting the processing manager, and when displayed on the display, a display can be performed with a layout which is easy for the user to view.
Moreover, in the invention, the user selects a searching strategy and an editing strategy, among multiple types of searching strategies and editing strategies that are displayed on the display screen, and information searching is thereby performed, with respect to the search request which the user inputs, in accordance with the selected searching strategy and editing strategy. Additionally, editing of the information which is searched is performed. Therefore, the user only needs to select, from the screen, what kind of searching method will be used in searching the information, and what kind of editing method will be used in editing the searched information. By so doing, searching processing and editing processing are possible according to the selected searching strategy and editing strategy.
Moreover, icons that show multiple personified processing managers are prepared, the multiple types of searching strategies and editing strategies correspond to respective icons, and a corresponding searching strategy and editing strategy can be selected by selecting one of these icons. Therefore, when the user selects one of the multiple searching and editing strategies, the user only needs to perform the operation of selecting the icon which shows a personified processing manager, the user can perform a complicated operation to which the user is not accustomed, such as information searching and editing of the searched information, with a feeling of familiarity.
Moreover, among the multiple personified processing managers, at least one processing manager learns the user""s taste in information processing based on the past operating conditions of the user, and after sufficient learning has occurred, information searching and editing of the user""s favorite searching style can be performed by just selecting the processing manager. By doing this, the troublesome processing of the information searching and editing can be performed more easily.
Moreover, with respect to the edited result, each processing manager is correlated with a certain kind of display layout. Therefore, the setting of the layout which the user likes can be possible by just selecting the processing manager, and a display with a layout which the user can easily view can be performed.
As explained above, according to the invention, when performing some kind of search, the user merely inputs a keyword as the search request information, views the personified editor list which is displayed on the display screen, and selects an editor that will do searching, editing and layout that are appropriate to the search request information, and the searching and editing are performed by the searching/editing strategy which the user desires, and then displayed in the appropriate layout. Therefore, the burden of the searching operation to the user can be dramatically decreased. In particular, the searching operation is extremely simple even to the user who is not used to this type of operation. For example, the user can have a familiar feeling when performing the operation of receiving some type of information from the Internet which the normal user is not used to.
Moreover, a personified editor is provided that learns the user""s taste in information processing by the individual user performing the operations relating to searching many times, and performs the learned result. Therefore, after a certain mount of learning is completed, if the user selects the editor, searching/editing processing which understands the taste of the user is performed, a display with an appropriate layout is performed, and the searching operation can be simplified.
Moreover, the result which is searched by the searching strategy in which the user selected can be edited by the user""s own system and the edited result can be displayed on the display in a specified layout. Other than this, for example, it is also possible to edit and display by other systems by storing the search result on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM.
Moreover, it is acceptable to use a searching means which performs existing searching that performs normal searching based on a keyword which is input by the user, and it is also acceptable to perform editing of information which is searched by a normal search, by an editing strategy which is unique to an editor that is selected by the user and to display it in a layout which is unique to the editor. Accordingly, the invention can be adapted to an information searching device which uses an existing searching means.